MalcolmX ES teaching journal, Berkeley Days 1-2

Day 1: We began our MXES residency with I am poems, but since Dr. Mapps had already taught the class my I am lesson plan, I had to come up with a way to make it a different type of I am poem on the spot. Talk about a curve ball. Luckily, I had calendar photos of endangered species in my teaching bag so I passed handfuls of those photos out.

Moral of the day, always have at least 2 to 3 extra lessons ready to go The I am animal poems came out surprisingly well even though I was having to use untested photographs to generate material.

I’m not too sure of the skills of this particular second grade class. They have been sequestered most of their school careers because of Covid. Distance learning has been a challenge with these little guys.

Day 2 with Dr. Mapps. The class went better. This is only my second day in the classroom since the epidemic began. It feels weird. I am all thumbs. I have lost my teaching mojo. And one of the things that is most difficult to do, is to try and teach with a mask on, because the students cannot see your face—they can only see your eyes. It’s like teaching in a burka.

So today, I used my whole body as an expressive teaching tool. Big steps, big arm gestures, and way over the top big voice to try to compensate for the fact that they could not see me speaking. Total improv. Cardio workout. After class I am exhausted and my throat hurts.

Another problem with teaching while wearing a mask is that no one can hear each other read. The students are behind plexiglass kiosks and they’re wearing masks so when they read their poems. They’re talking down to their desks in their little cubicles, not projecting the sound back out again. It is an interesting dilemma, I think we are all losing our hearing at this point.

I had forgotten it was Earth Day. I thought that was yesterday, so we all sang Happy Birthday to the earth. Dr. Mapps played a pollution song and after I leave the students will write poems to the earth

Since I was already set up to do if /then poems, I continued with that lesson plan. But I said, think about all the things on the earth and so on and so forth. It was not my best switch hitter moment, but it did work. I began with a group poem on the board. Some thing I do when kids are either preliterate or don’t have solid writing skills.

If I were a dragon fire
I would live in a cave of the melting son.
If I were the seahorse of the stars,
I would shine like the moon of flowers.
If I were the shooti g star of the rainbow
I would fly like the clouds of sorrow.
We dream of happiness in the universe.

Dr. Mapps’ 2nd grade group poem